Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Why should anybody be so proud?

“Self-love” and “Pride” are noble things to have. Anybody should love himself or herself. Self-love leads to being sweetly proud of oneself: about one’s ability, intellect, beauty or anything worthy. Again, pride can be both positive and negative. “Negative pride” is harmful for self and others; hence dangerous.

Generally, by pride we mean negative pride. Why should anybody be so proud? If you think you have plenty of money or properties or beauty or brains, so have others more than you in this world. If you think you are powerful because you are a police officer or the Collector of the area, so are there people in higher administrative positions than you. If you think you are the prime minister of the country or the president, so are numerous prime ministers or presidents in this Political World. If George W Bush thinks he is the boss of the world, he better remember that this is a United World. If the human race of this world is so proud of their cultures and scientific and technological achievements, better they look up at the night sky and try to solve its mystery.

When the self within us becomes too much, it is always wise to stare at the night sky, and try to calculate its vastness and emptiness. “It is so vast yet it looks so empty”.

Saint Ramakrishna always advised people not to be proud of their possessions or power, for these are mundane, and relative. During the darkness of the night, the firefly thinks it has much light. When the candle is burnt near it, the firefly becomes insignificant. Similarly, candlepower is insignificant in front of an electric bulb. Even the stars feel humble at the brightness of the moon in the sky.

The human race has the tendency to feel proud of being citizens of such a vast world. But our beloved world is a microscopic planet in the universe. We really do not know how huge is the universe. Or whether it has any end.